La Msoira e’L Rastel (Fabio Gea)
Cul Otte Red Blend
Italy
I’ve been aware of Fabio Gea for a couple of years but his microscopic production coupled with living in Nebraska has meant famine for many wines in the Louis/Dressner portfolio...but we got “lucky” this year and our humble state was allocated a bunch of stuff that we rarely get offered to include some Radikon and this interesting release from Gea. Supposedly, it’s mostly if not all Nebbiolo and frankly, I don’t doubt that. The packaging is really cool with a bottle that looks half melted. There is no cork. Instead, it uses a glass stopper covered in wax. I’ll get right to it: this bottle was a bizarre experience and as natural as they come. It was as cloudy as any old wine that was more or less dead...but it was in fact very much alive. So much so, in fact, that it was effervescent; the telltale signs of secondary fermentation. On the nose, it was sour cherry fruit and undigested hay. On the palate, it was sour cherries and a touch...yeasty? It didn’t seem under-attenuated...but maybe? I can’t rate this. There is no way this was the intended result. From my perspective, it should never have been released. Bottle 756. Hopefully this is just a bad bottle.
I’ve been aware of Fabio Gea for a couple of years but his microscopic production coupled with living in Nebraska has meant famine for many wines in the Louis/Dressner portfolio...but we got “lucky” this year and our humble state was allocated a bunch of stuff that we rarely get offered to include some Radikon and this interesting release from Gea. Supposedly, it’s mostly if not all Nebbiolo and frankly, I don’t doubt that. The packaging is really cool with a bottle that looks half melted. There is no cork. Instead, it uses a glass stopper covered in wax. I’ll get right to it: this bottle was a bizarre experience and as natural as they come. It was as cloudy as any old wine that was more or less dead...but it was in fact very much alive. So much so, in fact, that it was effervescent; the telltale signs of secondary fermentation. On the nose, it was sour cherry fruit and undigested hay. On the palate, it was sour cherries and a touch...yeasty? It didn’t seem under-attenuated...but maybe? I can’t rate this. There is no way this was the intended result. From my perspective, it should never have been released. Bottle 756. Hopefully this is just a bad bottle.
May 18th, 2020
Second bottle of this vintage and even better than 11 months ago
Second bottle of this vintage and even better than 11 months ago
Dec 12th, 2020
